1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rigid endoscope set in which a third insertion portion provided in a telescope is allowed to be inserted into or removed from a first channel of a rigid endoscope body and a treatment instrument having a smaller outer diameter than that of the third insertion portion is allowed to be inserted into or removed from the first channel with assistance of a treatment instrument guide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diagnosis or treatment on a patient using a rigid endoscope body is generally performed under observation using an optical endoscope or an ultrasound endoscope or the like. With a rigid endoscope body provided with optical observation means at a distal end, the distal end of the rigid endoscope is guided to a target subject based on an optical observation image acquired from the optical observation means, a tissue is extracted using a treatment instrument inserted into a channel of the rigid endoscope body or necessary treatment is performed.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3514854 discloses a technique of performing diagnosis and/or treatment on a subject using an ultrasound probe provided with a flexible or rigid insertion portion, provided with ultrasound observation means, optical observation means and a channel opening arranged at a distal end.
When performing diagnosis or treatment on a subject using the ultrasound probe disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the insertion portion of the ultrasound probe is inserted into the body first and the distal end of the ultrasound probe is guided into the subject based on an optical observation image acquired from the optical observation means. Next, the ultrasound observation means is brought into contact with the subject, a lesioned region is identified and predetermined treatment is performed. Furthermore, a treatment instrument is inserted into a channel provided in the ultrasound probe and other treatment is performed.
Note that when transluminally performing diagnosis or treatment on a target subject, particularly when the insertion portion of the rigid endoscope body such as an ultrasound probe is inserted into a relatively narrow luminal such as urethra, the outer diameter of the insertion portion of the rigid endoscope body is preferably as small as possible to alleviate the burden on patients.
The outer diameter of the insertion portion can be reduced by separating the optical observation means from the rigid endoscope body, inserting the optical observation means into the channel provided in the rigid endoscope body as an optical telescope and guiding the distal end portion to a target tissue according to an observed image acquired from the optical telescope.